Women Students In Russia

1900

If a Russian woman wishes to study at any of the universities in her own land, etiquette does not allow her to do an until she is married. Not infrequently she goes through the civil ceremony of marriage with a man student whom probably she has never seen before, and this marriage is quite legal, though perhaps the couple may never speak to each other again. On the other hand, if they like each other and they so desire, they are married for life. If they do not, the marriage is dissolved when their university course is finished, and they are free to marry some one else.

The celebrated mathematician Sonya Kovalovski went through the marriage ceremony with a student whom she then saw for the first time and who afterward became her husband. The education of women in Russia stands better than in most European countries owing to the persistent efforts of the Russian women themselves.